Dr William Rowlandson

I have worked since 2005 at the University of Kent as Senior Lecturer in Hispanic Studies, following Associate Lectureships at the Universities of Exeter and Aberdeen.

I am author of books and articles on Latin American cultural and political history, Cuban history (with particular focus on the community-led projects of recovery – such as urban agriculture – following the collapse of the Soviet Union), Cuban literature and film, Borges, Swedenborg, mysticism, psychedelics, the Imaginal, and the Daimonic.

My current teaching and research interests focus on the contribution of Humanities and Modern Languages to the discourses of Sustainability and Ecology.

I am convenor of a co-taught Modern Languages module SCL505 Cultures of Sustainability, which considers the wide-ranging definitions of sustainability and of the contribution to the discourse from Humanities subjects, and analyses a range of case studies representing the four disciplines of Modern Languages in SECL at Kent: French, German, Italian and Hispanic Studies.

I am involved in many initiatives focused on Sustainability at the University of Kent:

• UCU Branch Environmental Officer
• Departmental Sustainability Champion
• FutureProof workshops
• Anthropology & Conservation Sustainability Working Group (set up as part of the School’s declaration of Climate Emergency in September 2019)

• NUS-led Responsible Futures initiative
• Beetbox Food Cooperative
• Kent Community Oasis Garden
• Billhook Nook
• Kent Tree Ogham

Off-campus I am involved in many initiatives grounded on Sustainability

• Co-founder and Deputy Chair of Canterbury Climate Action Partnership (CCAP)
• Founding member of the Centre for Myth, Cosmology and the Sacred (formerly the MA in Myth, Cosmology and the Sacred at Canterbury Christ Church University)
• Canterbury SDG Forum
• Allotment-holder, gardener, composter, vermiphile & mycophile (who doesn’t love worms and fungus?), rewilder, proud tree-hugger, and drummer with Whitstable’s Samba Pelo Mar.

Dr Rowlandson teaches areas such as Modern Latin American literature, Spanish, Cultures of Sustainability and literature surrounding the Cuban Revolution.